Graffiti & The Arab Spring: An Explosive Combination

April 2, 2012

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In December 2010, the decision of a man called Mohamed Bouazizi to burn himself, led to the Revolution in Tunisia which triggered subsequent unrests and government overthrows in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Yemen. Syria seems to follow next.

As the revolution unfolded, protesters were beginning to express their ideas through graffiti. And as Blake Gopnik says in an article that was published in Foreign Policy, the similarity between the Arab Spring’s graffiti and the graffiti of the 1980s in New York is stunning. Graffiti, a Western form of the “art” of protest, is now a part of the Libyans’, Tunisians’ and Egyptians’ freedom of speech arsenal.

The images below are absolutely fantastic and I’ve selected at least 5 from each country (to be read-Egypt, Libya and Tunisia). Nevertheless, I recommend you to view them carefully and to eventually compare them to those that can be found in your home countries. Enjoy, be inspired and if you will like this article, then please share it with your friends or community! Many thanks! Cheers!

Respect our work! Don’t copy our articles!

Libya

Col. Muammar Gaddafi squeezed by the Revolution

REUTERS/Bob Strong

Col. Muammar Gaddafi and his son, hanged

Dad, tell the reptiles to crawl away”. Gaddafi: “Shut Up, you child!”

Gaddafi kicked by the Lybian people

Benghazi, east of Libya

Gaddafi portraited as a rat

Freedom Lybia

A peace sign in the colors of the rebel flag on Al Fatah Street near Mitiga International airport

Fashlun, a neighborhood in west Tripoli

Have the rebels come or not?” asks Gaddafi

“I’m here, here, here!”

as Gaddafi points at a rat hole, with a sign reading “The Invincible Home”

Free Libya

Photograph: Rory Mulholland

Anti-Gaddafi grafitti

Photograph: Rory Mulholland

Egypt

Freedom of expression

Photograph: Mohamed El Hebeishy

Alternative media and how it played a crucial role in bringing freedom

Chess Pawns overthrowing the king (a.k.a. Hosni Mubarak)

Ousted president Hosni Mubarak (R) joined to half the face of Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi (L)

Hosni Mubarak and his inner circle

Tunisia

Long live the people!

Tunisians after the ouster of President Ben-Ali

“The popular uprising that unseated the dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in January grew out of chronic youth unemployment; social and economic disparities between the affluent coastal regions and the impoverished interior; and a lack of political freedom”

Democratic rule in Tunisia is to be achieved

The Constitutional Democratic Rally party (RCD) was swept from power on 14 January 2011, after 23 years of repressive rule.